Lance Brisson and Rosalind Russell

His mother (to me) referred to him as Lance and so do his friends. Lance Brisson was born on May 7 1943, to Frederick Brisson and Rosalind Russell. Frederick was a well known producer and sometimes actor - Rosalind was a famous actress. Lance married actress Patricia Morrow on March 15 1975, at age 31. They divorced in 1982. Patricia, born Feb 17 1944, was a television actress on such shows as Leave It to Beaver, My Three Sons and Perry Mason. She also had bit parts in the films Ma and Pa Kettle at Home (1954), Artists and Models (1955), The Bad Seed (1956), and The Wrong Man (1956). But her largest role was on the tv show "Peyton Place" from 1965 through 1969. Then from 1972 - 1974, she was a part of the sequel "Return to Peyton Place". On the last iteration of the show, "Peyton Place: The Next Generation" in 1985, she appeared on screen for the last time. Patricia became a lawyer and after her divorce from Lance, she adopted a baby girl. In Lance's father's obituary, it says "He is survived by a son by Miss Russell, Lance Brisson, executive director of California's Business Labor Council, and a grandson, James." Lance and Patricia Morrow did not have children. Two weeks after his father died, Lance launched a suit against Arlette, his father's second wife, challenging her rights to his estate. After two years, a settlement was reached.

Rosalind Catherine Russell was born to James Edward Russell (1860 - 1926) and Clara A. McKnight (1874 - 1958). Both of her parents were born in Connecticut. She had siblings James Edward, Clara J., John J.. George Benedict, Mary Jane, and Josephine B. Russell. The middle of seven children, she was named after the S.S. Rosalind at the suggestion of her father, a successful lawyer. After receiving a Catholic school education, she went to the American Academy of Dramatic Art in New York, having convinced her mother that she intended to teach acting. In 1934, with some stock company work and a little Broadway experience, she was tested and signed by Universal. Simultaneously MGM tested her and made her a better offer. When she plead ignorance of Hollywood (while wearing her worst-fitting clothes), Universal released her and she signed with MGM for seven years. For some time she was used in secondary roles and as a replacement threat to limit Myrna Loy's salary demands. Knowing she was right for comedy, she tested five times for the role of Sylvia Fowler in The Women (1939). George Cukor told her to "play her as a freak." She did and got the part. Her "boss lady" roles began with the part of reporter Hildy Johnson in His Girl Friday (1940), through whose male lead, Cary Grant, she met her future husband, Grant's house guest at the time. In her forties, she returned to the stage, touring "Bell, Book and Candle" in 1951 and winning a Tony for "Wonderful Town" in 1953. Columbia, worried the public would think she had the female lead in Picnic (1956), billed her "co-starring Rosalind Russell as Rosemary." She refused to accept an Oscar nomination as supporting actress for the part, an Oscar she would no doubt have won had she relented. "Auntie Mame" kept her on Broadway for two years followed by the movie version. Following her death, she was interred at Holy Cross Cemetery in Culver City, California. She died about three weeks after Patrick Dennis, the author of Auntie Mame (1958), which was one of her most famous roles. Rosalind gave birth to her only child at age 35, a son Lance Brisson, on May 7, 1943. Lance's father was her husband, Frederick Brisson. Rosalind won Broadway's 1953 Tony Award as Best Actress (Musical) for "Wonderful Town", a musical based on the same source as her film My Sister Eileen (1942), for which she received an Oscar nomination playing the same character. She also received a 1957 Tony Award nomination as Best Actress (Dramatic for "Auntie Mame", a role she recreated in an Oscar-nominated performance in the film version Auntie Mame (1958). See Rosalind Russell: Obituary.